Maersk Line has announced the appointment of new country managers for New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as part of a worldwide restructuring drive designed to cut costs, staffing levels and return the Danish shipping giant to profitability.
Julian Bevis as the new head of its New Zealand operations. Ms Bevis will be replacing outgoing head Tony Gibson.
Mr Gibson had filled the post of New Zealand country manager since the Danish shipping giant merged with P&O Nedloyd in 2004, resulting in higher than expected integration costs. His successor Ms Bevis previously headed Maersk's Indian line and operations business.
A report by Fairfax Media said Mr Gibson's surprise departure was due to the company's global restructuring drive that has stepped up a gear as fuel prices continue to rise and the US economy teeters on the brink of recession. The move is expected to lead to a 12 per cent cut in Maersk's 25,000 strong container shipping staff.
Maersk currently transports about 40 per cent of New Zealand's sea freight trade and employs 200 staff in the nation.
The job cuts are part of Maersk's streamlining process to reduce its structure from 14 to 11 regions worldwide. Subsequently, New Zealand, previously part of the Oceania region and reporting to Australia, will become part of the Asia-Pacific region and will report directly to Singapore, starting from the end of the year.
In line with the group wide restructuring, Maersk Line has also appointed new country managers for Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Henrik Jensen has been named the new Maersk Line country manager for Malaysia and Singapore; and Thomas Lindy Sorensen as the new Maersk Line country manager for Thailand, a company statement said.
They will report directly to Jesper Praestensgaard, chief executive for Maersk Line Asia-Pacific. "We need to make it easier for our customers to do business with us and I am confident that both Henrik and Thomas will deliver on this. Apart from having a simpler organisational structure, modernisation of the shipping industry holds the key to less complex container shipping," Mr Jensen said.
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